Florian Mueck - PlusPlus

PLUSPLUS

PATTERNS FOR BETTER COMMUNICATION

FLORIAN MUECK

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

For permission requests, write to the publisher, at: PLUSPLUS@florianmueck.com

www.florianmueck.com

Cover artwork, illustration & composing by www.navarra-design.com

Published by: epubli GmbH, Berlin, www.epubli.de

Copyright © 2013 by Florian Mueck

ISBN 978-3-8442-4897-5

Only dead fish swim with the flow.

PLUSPLUS is not only a book. It’s also an attitude. With their positive and constructive attitude, the people below continuously help me climb closer to that unreachable peak of the mountain of public speaking.

Special thanks to all my awesome clients.

Special thanks once again to Arthur Waters for his brilliance and patience on the editing side.

Special thanks to Conor Neill and IESE Business School — both are role models of personal and professional growth.

Special thanks to my Rhetoric-game partner and friend John Zimmer.

Special thanks to Olivia Schofield and her Spectacular Speakers for her neverending inspiration.

Special thanks to Michael Kalkowski for his priceless trust from the very beginning.

And, of course, very special thanks to my very special Rose.

For Prestigious Speakers

Her name is Sonia, and she’s from Mexico City. When I met her, I was about to give a seminar for the Foundation of Emotional Education in Barcelona. Everyone was chatting and chaffering over their coffee before the training started — except Sonia, who was sitting alone at a table, hunched forward, poring over some notes.

I went over to her table and sat down. Instead of introducing myself, I just looked at her. Then I said: You don’t talk very much, do you?

She answered: No.

Sonia was an introverted, timid, pensive person when I met her. She was insecure, reluctant to share even her ideas, much less her feelings, or her passions. It was as if she’d built a wall around herself, and was hiding behind it from everyone.

Two days later she had changed completely. Enthusiasm possessed her when she expressed her passion for archaeological museums. She modulated her voice to outstanding effect. She was poised; her selfconfidence had soared. Now she positively radiated charisma. It was like magic.

What had happened to Sonia?

I lead seminars on public speaking. That is my profession. I’ve worked all across Europe, usually for major corporations. I’ve listened to and evaluated thousands of speeches — in three languages — and these thousands of evaluations have taught me one thing: the power of feedback !

I use only positive, constructive feedback: that is the secret magic of PLUSPLUS.

PLUS: Sonia, what I liked in your speech was....

PLUSPLUS: Sonia, what you could have done even better was..

Who likes negative feedback? Who accepts MINUS feedback?

In my seminars, MINUS feedback is not allowed.

I always turn MINUS feedback into PLUSPLUS comments, so the people receiving it, like Sonia, don’t begin to think in terms of what they did wrong; instead, they think about how they can do it better next time.

Examples of MINUS versus PLUSPLUS feedback:

MINUS: You spoke too fast.

PLUSPLUS: You could’ve spoken more deliberately.

MINUS: I missed some pauses.

PLUSPLUS: You could’ve used a few more pauses.

MINUS: I didn’t like your hectic movements.

PLUSPLUS: If you exercise more control over your movements on stage, you’ll project more authority.

MINUS: You use too many filler sounds, like “um” and “ah”.

PLUSPLUS: You could convert those filler sounds you use, like “um” and “ah”, into very effective pauses instead.

MINUS: You are an emotional refrigerator.

PLUSPLUS: If you’d open up more and share your emotions, you’d connect much more with your audience.

It was the magic of PLUSPLUS, the approach that emphasizes “What you can do even better!” that turned Sonia into an outgoing, confident, passionate and persuasive communicator in just two days.

In this book you’ll learn about more than a hundred PLUSPLUS patterns I’ve detected over the years — patterns for better communication.

You can use this book in a variety of ways:

As a business presenter, you can enhance your content, your delivery, and your slides.

As a salesperson, you can optimize your sales pitch.

As a Toastmaster, you can improve your evaluations.

This book discusses public speaking. And consider: it’s always public speaking, whether you’re speaking to a single person or in front of an audience of a thousand people.

Many of the PLUSPLUS patterns in this book also apply to your everyday communication, one-on-one, both in business and in your personal life.

You too can improve the same way Sonia did. After two days of receiving PLUSPLUS feedback and applying PLUSPLUS patterns, she said:

On Friday I was on the other side of the river. You brought me over to this side.

This book focuses on three areas for improving your speeches and presentations — content, delivery, and slides. You’ll learn about “boosters” and “brakes” in all three areas.

“Boosters” are PLUSPLUS patterns that will improve the quality of your communication if you use them more often.

“Brakes” are also PLUSPLUS patterns, but it will improve the quality of your communication if you avoid them.

Here are a few examples:

PLUSPLUS PATTERNS THAT WILL IMPROVE YOUR SPEECHES AND PRESENTATIONS EVERY TIME YOU APPLY THEM

Once I attended an MBA class given by my friend Professor Conor Neillfrom the renowned IESE Business School in Barcelona. With gravity in his voice he addressed his class:

Ladies and gentlemen, please pay good attention. You will now hear the eight words that are most important to any public speaker.

The serious tone of Conor’s voice immediately had the students grabbing their pens. Conor continued:

The eight most important words, for any public speaker, are: After listening to my speech, the audience will ___________!

Will what? What will they do? What action will they take? What action, real or symbolic, will people perform after they’ve listened to me?

Conor calls it “Point X”, that one symbolic action that turns a passive listener into a committed follower.

Knowing more about my topic is not an action. Feeling more passionate about my cause is not an action. Signing my petition to save the orangutans in Borneo — that is an action.

I was sitting in a street café in Barcelona one afternoon, when suddenly a kindly looking lady in her late 50s approached me with a petition to save the famous orangutans of Borneo. Frankly, I’m not the number one petition-signer in the world, but this particular cause meant something to me. Rose, my beloved, my special rose, comes from Sabah, in Borneo, home of the orangutan. So I signed.